A series of suspicious packages which sparked a security scare at more than a dozen embassies and diplomatic missions in Kuala Lumpur last week contained harmless substances, police said Thursday.

Kamal Pasha Jamal, police chief of the Ampang district where most of the missions are located, said analyses showed that a yellow liquid in the parcels was simply a mixture of water and oil.

"It was nothing, simply harmless," he told AFP.

Even the powder that was in some of the packages was not a dangerous substance, but just plain white powder, he said adding that it was likely to be the work of pranksters.

"We are investigating," he said when asked about the progress of arresting the culprits.

Last week, over a dozen diplomatic missions in the Malaysian capital were sent suspicious packages by express mail, containing compact discs and threatening notes seeking justice over the perceived mistreatment of Muslims.

Part of prank

Authorities have said they suspect the packages are part of a prank following the latest deadly bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali.

The packages began arriving on the afternoon of October 4 at the diplomatic missions of Japan, Germany, Thailand, Canada, the Philippines and Singapore.

The United States, Russia, Britain, France and Australia received packages the following morning, the European Commission received another on October 6 and Spain was sent a package the following day.

The Indonesian consulate in northern Penang state also received a parcel, last Saturday.